Just thinking of things I want to do as I anxiously await my '06 on order and had an idea... Currently in my Insight, I have a 500W DC to AC power inverter in the glovebox that I have been using mostly for cell phones (bought it at Sams Club for about $30 and the car chargers from Sprint are at least double that) and it's great to be able to use just about anything with it from time to time. So I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice if you could find a place under the dash or something to mount the power inverter where it is not seen and put a nice AC receptacle on the dash? The only car I have seen that came with this option was a Toyota Matrix: http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/ToyotaM...110V-Outlet.jpg http://www.redlinegoods.com/images/Matrix0305-02.jpg Now that does look nice, power switch and all, but I would probably want the 3 prong plug similar to this: http://www.weisd.com/store2/CALACR-3.jpg It seems simple enough to mount a receptacle like that on the dash, take an extension cord and cut the female end off, strip the wires and solder them onto the receptacle and simply plug the receptacle from the dash into the inverter and relocate the switch from the inverter onto the dash. I told my dad about my idea and his reply was "yeah, if you want to catch your car on fire..." but he is not real electronic savvy, I have an associates in computer maintenance and I would feel completely comfortable doing it. Any other ideas or suggestions?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ilusnforc @ Apr 18 2006, 02:15 AM) [snapback]241376[/snapback]</div> Well, I am an electrical engineer. For 500W you are talking around 40 Amps of 12 DC current draw. So don't plug it into the accessory/cigarette lighter outlet (their fuses are 10 or 15 amps) and be sure you use a circuit with an appropriate 45 or 50 amp fuse. I might suggest a smaller inverter - say 125 W or so. Now you are down near 10 amps and can probably get by with the accessory outlets to supply it. Of course if you only ever use about 100W of the 500 available, you could get by on just about any circuit in the car, but I wouldn't recomend this - you really want to be sure that turn-on surges or unexpected higher wattage useage doesn't blow a fuse or fry the supply wires. And Toyota does use very light gage wires to the 12V power outlets. There are a few unused fuse positions under the dash (drivers side footwell) that migh be used to put the inverter on its own circuit with an appropriate fuse. BTW, the 12V accessory outlets are switched. They are off when the car is off. This can be changed with a simple jumper wire (see Coastal Electronics) for the passenger footwell one. - Tom
I know, 500W is a lot, more than I've ever needed, but it was only $30 so I figured thats better than the more expensive ones I've seen at most other stores. I've never had anything plugged into it that draws very much power, just cell phones and occasionally a laptop or something. Also, if I were mounting it in the car and putting AC outlets on the dash I would probably hard wire it directly to the battery like wiring an amplifier. The only downside to this inverter that I have is that it has a small fan on the end of it that is kind of noisy, I would like to slow it down or take it out (that's why I stuffed it in the glovebox, it doesn't get hot)... or probably the safest thing to do is get a less powerful inverter that doesn't need a fan. Thanks for the advice though, others opinions and ideas are always good before you go chopping up the dashboard. If Toyota did it on the Matrix, why couldn't they do it on the Prius? Oh well... This is the inverter that I have: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006HTQJ...glance&n=228013
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ilusnforc @ Apr 18 2006, 10:08 AM) [snapback]241444[/snapback]</div> Another thought on this is that at such a low price you are almost certainly getting what is described as a "modified sine wave" output. That isn't real good for some devices and not good for a lot of appliances for long term use. Look at this site for an explanation: http://www.partsonsale.com/prosine.html A company named Statpower used to make some really nice sine wave output small (125W and up) inverters that plugged into a car's accessory outlet and were great for laptops, battery rechargers, etc. They didn't use fans. I have two of the smaller ones I bought 8 or more years ago. The draw back is they were pricey (more than $100). When I tried to look them up, it seems they got absorbed/bought out by Xantrex. The small inverters they sell don't seem to brag about pure sine wave output. If what you are plugging into the inverter works fine, doesn't make buzzing noises and doesn't overheat, you should be fine. - Tom
Thanks for the suggestions, I haven't payed any attention to those detials. It would be worth it to spend more on a better quality and lower power inverter designed without a fan that does produce a pure sine wave. Then again, that's the beauty of the design for the in-dash outlet, you can still swap inverters at any time just by simply "plugging-it-in". Thanks!
This thread reminded me I just came across a site advertising small low wattage pure sine wave inverters. http://www.batterystuff.com/inverters/ I believe Sigma also offers the JDM 100v/100w outlet.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ilusnforc @ Apr 18 2006, 02:15 AM) [snapback]241376[/snapback]</div> That bowed panel above the floor hump has about 3 inches of empty space behind it. There should be plenty of room to install an inverter and an outlet. Plus, it pops off fairly easily without taking any other part of the dash off, and it has the cigarette power adapter in it, so there's your power source. To remove the panel, first remove the plastic "screw" in the passenger foot well. It's not really a screw, and you just grab the panel behind the "screw" and give it a tug to remove it. Then grab the panel on each side and give a firm, quick tug and it pops right off.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Apr 18 2006, 06:49 PM) [snapback]241849[/snapback]</div> Great, if I only knew that for when installing my passenger footwell lighting lol. I tried tugging at the centre piece and it didn't budge.
Note that you don't want to permanently connect an inverter directly to the battery because it has a parasitic drain even when nothing is plugged in. That will drain your 12V battery pretty quick. You could flip the power switch of the inverter off whenever you left your car. Yeah right. So it seems to me your options are: 1. Use a low power inverter that you can connect directly to the lighter power so it switches off when the car is off. 2. Install a relay to cut the power to the inverter when the car is turned off. If you don't know what a relay is or how to install one, I'd go with #1.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ilusnforc @ Apr 18 2006, 12:15 AM) [snapback]241376[/snapback]</div> Thats where the part about "relocate the switch from the inverter onto the dash" comes in, basically working like the Toyota Matrix with the power button next to the outlet. Thanks for the suggestion on the relay though, thats a great idea!
Looks like Sigma beat me to it... I just picked up my '06 ten days ago, so I'll have to look into this one. Has anyone purchased this "A/C Power Source" from Sigma? Just curious how the inverter looks, says it can handle 100W... should be enough for what I would use it for (cell phone charger, etc...)
